Basic Drawing

Lesson #6

DRAWING CONICAL OBJECTS

Now let's tackle the last of the four basic forms: the cone. Quite
naturally, the first object that pops into your mind is an ice-cream
cone. But there are bottles, glasses, lampshades, bowls, and many other man-made objects with shapes based upon a cone. There are also countless creations of nature - sea shells, flowers, and trees - with conical shapes.

Symmetry of the Cone: The best way to draw a symmetrical cone is to begin with a center line. Then draw the ellipse at right angles to the center line. Mark the place on the center line where the tip of the cone should be, depending on its height. Having established the base and the tip, it's a simple matter to run two diagonal lines from the tip to the ends of the ellipse to form the basic cone. now you can begin to add whatever details pertain to your particular object.

Drawing Everything: Draw as many conical forms as you can find. When you're finished with the last demonstration in this project, you'll have achieved a great deal. It's really a fine accomplishment to be able to draw - in their correct proportions - all the objects I've suggested. If you have mastered the four basic forms, you can draw anything in existence. Imagine! That's exactly what we are going to do in the next few projects.

PUTTING BASIC FORMS TOGETHER

Now the real satisfaction and consequent enjoyment of drawing
begins. Since you can draw all the basic forms, you can begin to put them together; now you will be able to draw any object you wish. Now matter how complex your subject may be, drawing it is only a matter of combining forms.

Basic Forms and Their Relationships: You must arrange your
basic forms - whether complex and composed of many parts, or
simple and made up of only two (The pitcher to the left is made up of only two basic forms: the sphere of its body, and the cylinder of its neck, base and handle.) - so that they relate to each other in both size and position. The same questions you asked yourself when observing and drawing an object composed of a single basic form should also be asked when you draw a complex one. How high, how wide, and how deep is one basic shape in relation to another?

Search for the proportions of your basic forms with many lines;
don't erase any of them. In this way, you will be able to compare and contrast proportions and establish correct shapes. Once you have the general proportions correct, you can place a fresh sheet of paper over your subject and clean up your drawing.

Drawing Symmetrical Objects: Establishing the symmetry of such objects as glasses, or candlesticks is vital to attaining their correct shape. Draw the center line through your object as I've done in the examples to the illustrations. Next, draw the left contour of your object; then flop your drawing over. Register your center line and trace the contour of the right side from you
left one onto another sheet of paper. both sides of your object should now be perfectly alike - symmetrical.

Then, taking still another sheet of paper, trace the entire object and refine your drawing by eliminating any
incorrect lines.

Drawing and Observation: You can draw anything. With the four basic geometric shapes, the possibilities open to you are endless. But you must be able to carefully discern the basic shapes underlying objects. Sometimes they will be almost totally obscured by a wealth of detail; sometimes one object will be composed of so many individual basic forms that it will be hard to distinguish each separate form.

Therefore, you must sharpen you visual powers. You must do
more than see, you must observe. You must learn to think about
what you are viewing and ask yourself basic questions concerning an object's relative proportions and dimensions. Observation will play an important role in the coming projects where we'll draw objects in relation to the horizon. That is, we'll draw objects in perspective.

Now take a quick look at the objects to the left. The orange
squeezer, and the hurricane lamp below it, includes all four basic
forms in its structure. Begin by drawing the largest form first. In the case of the squeezer, the largest shape is a sphere.

Begin drawing the hurricane lamp in the same manner with the
largest shape first. Here the major shape is a cone.

Work on these problems and come back when next we examine "the horizon plane"..